A COUPLE OF weeks ago, after another Jimmie Johnson column lead, I promised our sports desk I wouldn't write about the three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion every week.

Last week, I kept the promise. This week, guess who's back?

How can we not write about the guy who is speeding toward an unprecedented fourth consecutive title? Johnson's victory Sunday at California vaulted him into a 12-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin.

Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway will be the halfway point in the Chase for the Championship. Historically, once Johnson seizes the lead, he hangs on like a hound chomping on a bone.

Here's the scary thought for Johnson's rivals: If he wins four titles in a row, he'll be the favorite to make it five in a row. Johnson, 34, and his team, led by crew chief Chad Knaus, are that good.

"Those guys are in another category," teammate Jeff Gordon said after the California race.

"The last 3 years have been really special," Johnson said after winning in California. "Right now, we're in a great position, but it's way too early to start thinking about other things."

Johnson's total of 16 wins in the Chase over five-plus seasons far outdistances runners-up Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards (six each).

The next two Chase tracks are two of Johnson's favorites: Lowe's and Martinsville. Johnson has five victories at the Concord, N.C., oval, although he's winless the past 3 years. At Martinsville's historic half-mile oval, Johnson has won five of the last six races.

"The tracks in the Chase are my strongest tracks," he said, explaining his domination.

NASCAR, always suspicious of success, has inspected the No. 48 Chevrolet like a jeweler examining a diamond to determine its worth.

Asked on a Tuesday conference call whether he thinks NASCAR is leaning on his team too much, Johnson replied: "Anytime your car is over there, you're concerned. The tolerances are so tight that everybody is nervous. I'm not nervous, because we've had our cars there so often that our stuff should be right."

Knaus is a shrewd crew chief who searches for ways to challenge NASCAR's rule book. But Johnson doesn't think Knaus enjoys playing gotcha with NASCAR.

"We're not trying to do anything creative; we're not trying to skirt rules," Johnson said. "Chad was neutered years ago [suspended by NASCAR in 2006 after the No. 48 car failed an inspection]. At one point, you could be a rule maker. Now, that line has shifted so dramatically that there's no rule making, it's only rule breaking. We don't want to play that game.

"They're looking at stuff that's thirty-thousandths of an inch, and that's after a car races for 500 miles and has contact and pit stops, and the splitter bounces off the ground every lap.

"Cars are made of steel, so they're heat-sensitive. Put a car out in the sun, it's going to swell. Put a car in the cold air, it's going to shrink. There are so many areas that are stressful."

FIRST HALL INDUCTEES

To no one's surprise, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. leads the first induction class for the new NASCAR Hall of Fame.

In the order they were announced yesterday, France Sr. was followed by Richard Petty, Bill France Jr., Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson. Petty and Earnhardt are the sport's only seven-time Cup series champions. Johnson won 50 races as a driver and six titles as a car owner.

The first induction will be May 23, 2010, at the Hall in Charlotte, N.C.